By touting the high-end performance and value for money offered by their newest Ryzen technology, AMD has been unafraid to challenge Intel's long-standing dominance in the CPU market.

AMD introduced the Ryzen 5000 desktop CPUs, which include the top-of-the-line Ryzen 9 processor, in 2020. AMD's most recent CPUs are ready to take on Intel's Core i3, i5, i7, and i9 lineup.

Which CPU is best: Intel or AMD Ryzen?

The Short Version?

Even while it costs a little bit more than its closest Ryzen counterpart, many non-enthusiast PC builders will, in our opinion, be better off purchasing a processor like the Intel Core i7-12700KF (Amazon) (Amazon).

However, AMD's higher-end Ryzen processors are the way to go if you want more power or want to turn Cyberpunk 2077's settings menu all the way up without breaking the bank.

AMD Ryzen

Three Ryzen chip families—Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5, and Ryzen 3—made up AMD's initial wave of mainstream Ryzen processors. The processor's specification increases with increasing numbers. No problem, isn't it?

Comparing AMD's Ryzen CPUs to the competition was also made quite simple by the initial three-tiered structure. The Ryzen 3 was positioned as an entry-level rival to the Intel i3, the Ryzen 5 as a midrange rival to the Intel i5, and the Ryzen 7 as a performance rival to the Intel i7.

The second wave of AMD's Ryzen CPUs was then released in 2018. This second series of Ryzen CPUs was divided into four families and relied on a new 12nm manufacturing process and Zen+ architecture. Using Ryzen 3,

The extra processor cores that Ryzen offers compared to Intel's Kaby and Coffee Lake CPUs means that certain tasks run MUCH faster. If you do a lot of 3D rendering/video encoding or one of your favorite games runs better on multiple cores (few do, but some popular titles like Battlefield 1 and Civ are included in the short but growing list), then the extra money was worth it. The extra cores could also help with video game streaming on services like Twitch.

AMD updated its Ryzen portfolio at the end of 2019. However, they didn't just update the Ryzen 3, 5, and 7. They also added a new option to the lineup: the Ryzen 9.

If you've been paying more attention to AMD over the past six months, the Ryzen 9 series is probably why. In his review, Gordon Mah Ung called the chipset "historic" for AMD, saying, "With the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X, AMD is essentially running down the field, spiking the ball, and doing what the NFL would probably punish as excessive partying in the end zone these days." Since then, we've been introduced to the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, which is much faster and offers even more performance for gamers looking for an edge.

Intel Core

In general, Intel Core i7 CPUs are more powerful than Intel Core i5 CPUs, which in turn are better than Core i3 CPUs. A Core i7 does not have seven cores, nor does a Core i3 have three cores. The numbers are an arbitrary distinction of relative processing power rather than a specific designation based on the number of cores or clock speed or something similar.

There's also the Intel Core i9 to consider. Launched in 2017, the Core i9 series is a super high-end line of processors that boasts an incredibly high number of threads and cores. The top-of-the-line Core i9-12900Ks (Amazon) offers 16 cores (8 performance cores and 8 efficiency cores clocked at 5.20 GHz) and can handle 24 threads simultaneously, while the cheapest option on Amazon - the i9-10850K - comes with 10 cores (capable of serving 20 threads) and a base clock speed of 3.6 GHz.

As scary (and tempting) as these numbers may sound, unfortunately, most modern software isn't really ready to take advantage of these capabilities - especially in gaming. They are also quite expensive compared to the rest of the product range. In many ways, they are more comparable to AMD's Ryzen Threadripper CPUs than the Ryzen 9 CPUs.

you might want to consider an 8-core chip or even a 6-core chip since few games can use all the cores. That's the conventional wisdom, anyway. The problem is that modern gaming isn't about playing a game, winning, and then going to sleep happy and satisfied. It's about streaming it live or recording it, adding LOL memes, sound effects, and all kinds of "gaming"-related tasks that didn't exist a few years ago."

Which CPU price is best: Intel or AMD?

Intel Core i3 (10th Gen) vs Ryzen 3

Depending on where you buy them, Intel's current i3 CPUs currently range from about $206 on the low end to $406 for the i3-10300. By comparison, AMD's Ryzen 3 3200G can be had for about half that, at $175 (we've even seen it for AU$138). And when you compare the two, it's easy to see the value.

Even though it lags behind in clock speed and cache size, the Ryzen offers much better on board graphics and lower power consumption.

Intel Core i5 (10th Gen) vs Ryzen 5

Depending on where you’re buying them from, Intel’s current crop of i5 CPUs currently ranges from around $356 for the i5-10500 to $455 for the i5-10600. In contrast, you can grab a Ryzen 5 2600X for $339 or Ryzen 5 3400G for $240 respectively.

Again, the Ryzen counterparts to Intel’s i5 chips are almost half the price - so, even if they do fall short on certain fronts, there’s a lot of value here.

Intel Core i7 (10th Gen) vs Ryzen 7

Depending on where you’re buying them from, AMD’s Ryzen 7 CPUs float between $350 and $520. As usual, Intel’s CPUs tend to be slightly more expensive. We’ve seen the i7-10700 go as low as $586. We’ve seen the i7-10900 go as high as $895.

As noted in our theoretical comparison, the latest Ryzen 7 mobile processors simply can’t match the thread and core count allowed for by Intel’s own Core i7 processors, nor can they keep up when it comes to clock speeds. Depending on what you're looking do with your PC, that might just be enough reasons to pay the premium.

Intel Core i9 (10th Gen) vs Ryzen Threadripper

This is the only front where AMD doesn't have a price advantage. Depending on where you buy, you'll likely be able to pull one of Intel's high-end i9 CPUS for as low as $895 and as high as $949.

In contrast, AMD's mighty Threadripper CPUs start at around $2399 and we've seen them go as high as $6262. They offer a level of performance that Intel's i9 hardware can't match, that's for sure. But no matter how you slice it, the higher price is a pretty bitter pill to swallow.

Overclocking

We then ran the same tests with a system's automatic overclocking features. We don't change the settings as much as an avid overclocker would, since (relatively) few people bother to do so. However, when it made sense (for example, when the motherboard's settings or an app made it easy to stably boost performance), we were happy to do so.

Intel's processors, for example, played well with the Gigabyte Z170X Designare motherboard's built-in (and automatic) overclocking settings, so we were able to increase our CPU's clock speed with ease. This feature is not available on Gigabyte's AX370 mobo, but the same type of overclocking can be achieved by launching the RyzenMaster Windows app and sliding the sliders to select the desired speed.

We only had access to a modest Noctua NH-U12S SE-AM4 air cooler, which meant we couldn't push the Ryzen 1800X CPU too hard. Ryzen's built-in thermal management means that it manages its own speed at high temperatures. This has the side effect of making it run faster when it is cooler. We found that the 3.6 GHz CPU crashed at 4.1 GHz, but ran stably at 4 GHz.

An exception was the Cinebench 3D rendering test, where all cores are utilized to 100%. It crashed quickly at 4 GHz and only worked sporadically at 3.8 GHz. We strongly suspect that a better cooler would improve this performance, but unfortunately, we did not have access to one at the time of writing.

Which processor was faster: Intel or AMD?

In general, Intel's 7th generation Kaby and Coffee Lake processors are faster than AMD's Ryzen processors, but there are exceptions. Intel generally wins, but when using an application or game that utilizes all available cores, Ryzen can be significantly faster.

Our AMD Ryzen review unit came with some unusual customizations (AMD claims it shouldn't) and when we reset the (rev. 3f) BIOS (and set up the memory with XMP timings), it scored 3,944 in PC Mark.

Gigabyte provided us with the latest rev. 5b and the score went up to 4,010, which still puts it behind the Kaby Lake 7700K with 4,448 points and also behind Intel's older 6th gen 4GHz Skylake Core i7 6600K with 4,040 points.

When overclocked, the Ryzen score only increased to 4,147, while the Intel 6700K increased to 4,355 and the 7700K increased to 4,477. We also ran the Creative 3.0 PC Mark test, which focuses more on photo manipulation and video editing. In this case, Intel scored 5,853, while Ryzen scored 5,861. This is an easy win for Ryzen, which, as we'll see below, results in potentially dramatic time savings if you're doing extensive media encoding.